Inside The Game
by Art-Over-Matter
Summary: Anthony finds himself in somewhere he's never been before, and yet every detail is familiar. He also may or may not have killer donuts chasing him. But who's side is Ian going to take, and better yet, how do they get out?
1. Chapter 1

Anthony never did find out what happened. When he woke up, he remembered going to sleep the night before, in his apartment, when everything was normal. He hadn't had any odd dreams, or felt any odd sensations in the night.

But when he woke up, he was in a very different place.

It was a room that was quite clearly a bedroom, with a desk and computer, one-person bed, and a closet. There was one door and one window.

Anthony sat up, frowning. There was nothing familiar about this place. He was dreaming, maybe? No. Definitely not. Not only had Anthony practically never remembered dreaming, but this was also way too vivid.

No, he was definitely 'here'…but where _was _here?

Anthony was dressed in jeans and a green shirt, which he thought was a little odd for sleepwear. What had he been doing the night before? Did he get drunk and somehow ended up in a different person's house?

There were too many questions. Way too many questions.

He stood up off the bed and glanced around the room. The thing that stood out to him the most was the picture on the wall, which was of Ian. Ian, except that someone had drawn a moustache on him. Who would have that kind of a picture on their wall?

As Anthony headed for the door, he caught a glance of himself in the mirror on the wall. At first he didn't think anything of it, but then he did a double take and saw that he had the emo haircut again.

This was getting weird.

He left the room to find that he was leaving the house also—there was only one room to it. Apparently it didn't have any bathrooms or anything. That seemed unfortunate.

He was on a cobblestone road that lead to three other small houses, one of which had a fence around it that said Smosh across the front.

Wait. This was starting to look familiar. Did he know this place?

He walked quickly down the cobblestone road and entered the Smosh-labeled house, which was dark and unlocked. There was no one here. It seemed like maybe he should find Ian here, but his friend was nowhere to be found. It actually looked like no one had been in this place in a long time.

He froze in the middle of the room when he heard the growling outside. It was menacing, but it wasn't that of a dog or any other kind of common animal. It sounded so familiar, too….

And then everything clicked. He knew where he was. And he knew what was waiting for him outside.

Anthony crept to the window and looked out. Just outside the fence that encircled the house's lawn, was a giant donut.

A giant, moving, growling donut.

Anthony had to admit, the donut was actually kind of scary-looking. But he was hardly threatened by it; he knew exactly what he needed.

He burst out of the house and jumped the fence to avoid the red donut, hearing it give chase behind him. He sprinted back to his house-room and threw himself into the room, slamming the door behind him. The donut hit it with a sickening crunch.

Maybe it wasn't made of dough. That might complicate things.

It took him several seconds of searching through the room to find what he was looking for. But there in the closet, laying across the floor, was a bright green sword.

To Anthony simultaneous relief and disappointment, it was not made of celery. But it looked a lot like celery, just shinier.

He picked it up, finding that it was a lot heavier than he'd expected. It was more or less a katana, just as he remembered deciding it would be, and while it wasn't very big, it was made of something about as heavy as metal.

He stared at the weapon in his hand and started to laugh. This was insane.

He was inside Food Battle: The Game.


	2. Chapter 2

Ian didn't know how he came to be standing in the meadow of grass. But he was there suddenly, and he had a small pink object sitting beside him.

Frowning and feeling disoriented, Ian looked down. Next to his right foot was a bowling-ball sized, pink-frosted donut hole.

Ian stepped away from it in surprise. What the crap was this? It was…it was…

Edd.

The little donut hole looked up at him, and Ian gave a little cry of surprised as it moved. How did it move? It didn't even have legs.

The donut hole squeaked questioningly, its large, dark eyes blinking.

"Hi," Ian said, feeling insane. "Hi, Edd. Oh, God."

Edd smiled contentedly and rolled up to Ian, nudging his leg like a friendly cat. His touch felt much firmer than that of simply a doughy ball.

Ian crouched hesitantly and set his hand on top of Edd to see if he was covered in actual frosting. It certainly felt that way, although Ian wasn't about to taste it to find out.

"Where are we, dude?" he muttered to his bronut as he stood up and looked around. He saw a lot of bright grass, some boulders, and a stone path that led off to his left.

Figuring he didn't really have much of a choice, Ian started off down the path. Edd followed, rolling along behind him.

They didn't have to walk—or roll—far before coming to a wooden fence that stretched out and around the grassy area. The path ended and met up with a cobblestone road, beside which was a sign that read 'Welcome to Tickputt!'

Ian stared at the sign for a long time. Edd had already been proof that he was exactly where it looked like he was, but seeing the word 'Tickputt' hammered it into his brain much more forcefully.

This was Food Battle.

This was the _game_ that he and Anthony had helped design many months ago.

Ian closed his eyes and shook his head as if to rid his mind of this crazy idea. How was this possible?

And if Ian was here, did that mean Anthony was somewhere here too? Would it be the real Anthony, or a_ Food Battle: The Game_ Anthony? Would there be any difference?

That was when Ian turned and spotted his friend.

And also the killer donuts that were attacking him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Things start to get a little spoilery in this chapter, so if you haven't played through Food Battle: The Game all the way and are interested in keeping the plot a surprise, you might not want to read this until you've done that. Obviously, it's up to you. Thanks for reading!**

The red donut had brought some friends, and Anthony didn't like the look of them. While the red- and blue-frosted donuts were only as tall as Anthony's waist, the pink-frosted sprinkled donut came up almost to his shoulder. It was also holding a huge knife that must have been three times as heavy as Anthony's sword.

He dove out of the way of the blue donut's attack and slashed at the red one. His sword dug right into the doughy exterior of the donut, but hit something very solid inside of it. The donut twitched, then kept attacking.

Anthony swore and stepped backward as the pink donut swung its cleaver at him.

He was realizing very quickly that he had no idea how to use a sword.

"Anthony?" he heard a familiar voice call.

It took him a minute to look up as he ducked and thrust his katana into the blue donut, which fell and didn't get up. He scrambled away from the last two as he looked around for the source of the voice.

Ian was jogging up to him, casting periodic glances at the donuts. He wasn't holding a weapon, and tumbling along beside him was a pink donut hole that was almost the size of Anthony's head.

"Hi, Ian," Anthony said, breathless from the fight. He was a little uncertain whether this was a regular Ian who was in the same situation as Anthony, or a Food Battle Ian who would try to oppose him.

"Need a little help?"

"Kind of," he managed through a grunt as he held his sword up and blocked a slice from the pink monstrosity. He let the blade slide past him and then brought his own sword around in an overly large arc in order to slash through the pink donut's side, nearly cutting it in two.

He turned toward where he had expected the last donut to be, only to find it moving away from them, seemingly uninterested in continuing the fight.

Anthony looked to Ian. "Did it just bail?"

Ian shook his head, frowning after the donut. "No. I told it to go away. For some reason, they listen to me."

"Well, that would make sense in the context of the game, wouldn't it?"

Ian shrugged, nodding.

"So Ian," Anthony began, awkwardly shoving the celery sword into its sheath at his hip, "when did you get here?"

"Uh, a few minutes ago, I guess. I don't remember how I got here. I just…was here all of a sudden."

Anthony narrowed his eyes slightly. "Do you remember anything before being here?"

"Yeah, of course! Do you?"

Anthony relaxed a little. "Yes." He straightened up and looked around. So far, there were no donuts in sight. "So, now what?" he asked, sighing. "I don't know how we can get back."

Ian looked down, kicking the grass with the toe of his shoe. "Do you know that we _can _get back?"

Anthony rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb. "I don't want to consider that."

"Then we have to figure out how to deal with being here until we…somehow leave."

It sounded so simple, but Anthony knew it wouldn't be. How long would they have to be here? There was nowhere for them to _go, _really. Maybe the Smosh mansion at the edge of Tickputt, but still, this was all just a game. There was nowhere to live for the time being, nor was there any way to get out.

"By the way, where the heck did you find the celery sword?"

Anthony looked down and patted the hilt of his weapon. "In my closet. Where did you find Edd?" he asked in return as he knelt down beside the donut hole. Edd growled and backed away.

Ian shrugged. "He was just there. When I…came…here, he was just there next to me."

Anthony tried to reach out toward Edd, but he snarled and tried to bite him before rolling to the other side of Ian's legs.

Ian chuckled. "He doesn't like you, apparently."

"Apparently." Anthony stood. "He's cute, though."

A loud crash echoed down the tiny street, seemingly emanating from one of the houses.

Ian stiffened. "Was that from my mom's house?"

Anthony hadn't thought of that. "Shit, I think it was."

Ian didn't hesitate to turn and take off running in the direction of the small house, Anthony following not far behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

Ian hadn't known what to expect when he went running toward his mom's house, but he wasn't particularly surprised when he found out.

There were more goddamn donuts.

The door to the house was open as Ian approached it and he could see two donuts inside: one, a white-frosted thing with a spiked hammer, and the other, the red donut Ian had just told to go away moments ago.

"Go away, motherfuckers!" Ian shouted at them as he burst into the tiny house. The donuts froze and turned toward him, growling. Would they attack him?

His mom, who'd been cornered in the kitchen, hit the red donut from behind with a—frying pan?—hard enough it fell forward and didn't move again. The white pastry edged away, growling and looking between Ian and his mom like a paranoid animal.

Anthony stopped short behind Ian. "Need me to chop it in half?" he offered.

Ian frowned, unsure of the answer to that, and ordered the donut, "Get the hell out of here."

It snarled and refused to go, but didn't attack, either.

"Yeah, you can kill it," Ian decided.

Anthony stepped into the house and drew his sword. He hesitantly went up to the donut, which looked fight-ready, and made to slice it. Surprisingly agile, it dodged and swung its hammer around to strike Anthony in the back.

Ian and his mom both shouted something unintelligible as Anthony was knocked flat onto his stomach, gasping for air.

Without thinking, Ian lunged at the donut, tackling it to the ground. His weight was more than enough to pin the donut, but he had nothing to do with it once he had it trapped. Fortunately, Edd came to his rescue.

The feisty donut hole rolled up and bit the vanilla donut savagely, paralyzing it and revealing a glint of metal from underneath the dough. Then Edd nudged Ian and blinked at him as if to ask if he was okay.

Ian gave the donut hole a quick pat as he stood up, casting the donut a wary glance before walking over to help Anthony to his feet.

"I'm fine," Anthony said tightly as he used Ian to pull himself to his feet, wincing and putting a hand on his lower back.

Ian looked past Anthony to his mom. "You okay, Mom?"

She nodded, frowning deeply and setting the pan back on the stove. "I didn't think the bastards were going to barge right in like that."

Ian finally let himself relax. Good lord, these mutant donuts were a lot more of a pain in the ass in real life than they seemed in the game.

He glanced to Anthony, who was kneeling beside the fallen donut.

"What is it, dude?"

Anthony was frowning as he examined the thing. "I don't think these things are just pastries. I could tell when I tried to stick a sword in one—they're not made out of dough. That's just the outside."

Ian cast a glance at his mom—who just shrugged—then looked back to his best friend. "What do you mean?"

"They're robotic," Anthony answered. "They have a metal skeleton, it looks like."

"That's a little creepy. Does that mean they have a circuit board somewhere?"

"I don't know. You'd think." Anthony stood up, brushing donut crumbs off his hands. "It seems weird, because everything else so far has worked a lot like the way it is in the game. But they weren't robotic in the game, they were supposed to be genetically mutated."

"That is kind of weird, but I guess it's not going to make much difference, is it?"

Ian's mom interrupted them. "What are you two taking about?"

Ian turned to look at her, frowning slightly. "Well, in the game—at least, the way we designed it—the story went that the donuts—"

"What game?"

Ian froze. He glanced at Anthony, then back to his mom. "_Food Battle: The Game_. Um, the game we're _in_ right now."

She looked at him as though he'd just told her he'd found a real-life Pokémon in his shoe.

"Oh, shit," he muttered. This wasn't his actual mom; this was some version of her that was just in the game. That was too weird….

"Sharon?" Anthony asked, to Ian's surprise. Anthony never called her that. "Do you not remember anything before being in this…reality?"

She narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "Don't call me that, young man. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ian and Anthony exchanged glances.

"Never mind, then," Anthony said quickly. "Sorry I said anything."

"Anthony, can we talk alone for a sec?" Ian asked.

"Sure thing," Anthony said hesitantly.

"I can't go in there again," Ian said when they'd stepped outside his mom's house.

Anthony frowned. "Why?"

"Because that's…not my mom. I mean, it is. But it's not. Whatever. It's just weird, dude."

Anthony nodded. "Well, I guess I can't blame you. So…I'll go in and talk to her, see if I can find anything out, and then come back out and we'll plan from there. Good?"

Ian nodded, though he could help but frown slightly. "'Kay."

Anthony started to turn around when Ian spoke again. "Anthony?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning halfway back to Ian.

Ian's gaze met Anthony's dark eyes. "We still have no idea how to get out of here, or if we even can, and it's starting to…" His eyebrows started to grow worried before diving downward into a frown. "It's starting to piss me off."

More than that—it was scaring him. After all, none of this was really real, so they had no friends here, and having killer donuts attacking your ass left and right wasn't the best way to live. But Ian didn't want to admit he was scared.

Anthony paused for a few beats before putting a hand on Ian's shoulder. "We'll figure something out, man. We got here somehow, so there must be a way out."

"I guess," Ian sighed, not really agreeing with that logic, as he brushed Anthony's hand away. "Anyway, yeah, I'll wait out here."


	5. Chapter 5

When Anthony came back out, dragging the dead donut with him and leaving vanilla frosting and sprinkles smeared on the floor, Ian was sitting down with Edd on his lap on the stone pathway that led back to the road.

"That donut hole really likes you, doesn't it?" Anthony asked, casting an amused raised eyebrow at Edd.

"What can I say? I just have a thing for holes."

"Dude, really?"

Ian smiled and shrugged, gently shoving Edd off of him as he stood up. "So did you find anything out in there?"

Anthony dropped the donut with a grunt and wiped his hands on his jeans. "Not really. I mean, now I know that the donuts have been attacking Tickputt for some time." He frowned. "It sounds like there used to be a food battle version of Stevie, like with your mom, but…the donuts ambushed him."

"And…?" Ian asked before seemingly realizing what Anthony meant. "Oh. Shit. At least…at least it wasn't the actual Ryan."

Anthony nodded, not wanting to consider the alternative. Technically, they _didn't _know it was a food battle version of Ryan, but Anthony wasn't going to let himself think too hard about any other possibility. "How is it that we're the only two stuck here?"

Ian wasn't hiding his frustration now. "I don't know. Apparently we're dealing with some goddamn _supernatural_ force."

He had said it sarcastically, but Anthony couldn't help but actually wonder if maybe they were. He didn't believe in supernatural forces, exactly, but it was a curious thing to think about. How _did _they get stuck here?

Anthony took a deep breath, running a hand through his emo hair, which felt unfamiliar after he'd gone so long without it. "Okay, this is a shitty situation, but Ian, we're going to have to figure something out. First of all, I think we should at least figure out how to use some of these weapons. The least we can do is survive until we find a way out. Agreed?"

Ian nodded, looking past Anthony thoughtfully. "What if there's, like, a boss we have to kill, and once we've done that, we can leave?"

Anthony dug the toe of his shoe into the ground. "Maybe. There's no way to know. But I guess that's how the game itself would work, more or less."

"Yeah."

"So let's figure out how to use these weapons, shall we? I'd rather not get hit in the back with a donut's whatever that thing was again."

Ian frowned, as if just remembering that that had happened. "Yeah, are you okay?"

"I already told you I am." Anthony really was fine, but that didn't mean he felt great. Just about every movement he made with his shoulders hurt, and he was pretty sure he could feel a little bit of blood sticking his shirt to his skin. The donut really hadn't hit him very hard, but its weapon had been a bitch.

There were a lot of things about _Food Battle: The Game_ that Anthony was beginning to regret.

"Alright," Anthony said, leaving Ian's mom's front yard and starting back down the road toward his own room. Ian followed behind him. "I don't know if there are going to be all the weapons in food battle back in my room, but we can at least see if there's something for you to use."

"The taquito gun would be nice," Ian commented. "It would work nicely in tandem with your sword, I think."

"I agree. First things first, though—we have to actually see if it's there."


End file.
